Experian still lists you no matter what boxes you tick. I've opted out in the past but it doesn't work. Still wondering if they are serious about taking thousands of people to court to fine them for "up to £1,000" just because they don't want all of their details sold to anyone that wants to buy them, including the Students Loans Company.

I have to say I'm not proud of thinking this way but dealing with Student Loan Debt Recovery is just so horrifying: I'm terrified of the Student Loans Company Debt Collectors finding me via the Electoral Roll so am considering not registering to vote. How likely is it that I really will be fined for "up to £1,000"?

Thank you for your advice. I'm trying to avoid talking to them over the phone but I really would like to know if they have already obtained a Court Order and sent it to my old address. I won't ring them though. The letter I got actually says it's a "NOTICE OF DEFAULT SUMS", and only mentions £10 for the Autotrace fee. It also says "This does not take into account of default sums which we have already told you about in another default sums notice, whether or not these sums remain umpaid.". This suggests me to me that they are about to go to court if they haven't already. Even if they have already gone to court, would they write to me here at my new address before bailiffs arrive? How does this work? Would they have to go to court again because I've moved? I've got to sort through all the paperwork before I can come up with the total amount owed - what they are asking for is wrong by about £50 anyway by my calculation based on the figures gained through the incomplete Data Request. I'll fire off a non-compliance letter next. Expecting some horrible demand for payment any day now, or bailiffs if they have already been to court and sent all the paperwork to my old address.

Can the debt recovery people used by the Student Loans Company legally break into my flat and take away my belongings? Can this happen? Under what circumstances can this happen? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. A bit of background: I am in arrears to the tune of about £1400 (not including the original loan), of which about £400 are letter charges. I moved recently to get away from nasty neighbours and the Student Loans Company ran a trace and found me within 8 weeks. Before I moved, I got data using the Data Protection Act letters but the charges don't even add up properly and they haven't included all of the annual statements. I didn't correspond with them further before I moved. I've just received a letter telling me that they have found me using an "Autotrace" for which they have charged me £10. I am not in a position to repay my debt because I have recently started my own business and am still finding my feet. I'm on a really low income at the moment but can't really prove it as I haven't yet done my accounts for the year. What kind position am I in as regards repayment given that I am self employed but on a low income? I'm expecting a nasty debt collection letter any day now. I especially want to know if they can take away all of my computer equipment - I use this to make my living. Can they actually break into my flat?

They just refunded me the £10 directly to my account, listed as ACCOUNT ADJUSTMENT. I think this is because I made such a fuss in my letter: "This matter has nothing to do with Bank Charges from your bank. My letter didn’t mention bank charges, why have you sent me a letter about bank charges? My letter made no mention of Bank Charges whatsoever. It was a Data Request under the Data Protection Act 1998. The letter I sent you was not lacking in clarity in the request being made. You have not the provided the information I requested and paid £10 for in my letter dated 24/10/11 under the Data Protection Act 1998. You have a legal obligation to provide all of the information that I have specifically requested and paid £10 for. So again, I request all of the information I’ve asked and paid £10 for under the Data Protection Act 1998. If you don’t provide this information to me within the original timeframe, I will make an official complaint to the Ombudsman, your Executive Directors Ms Ana Botín, Mr Jose María, Mr Steve Pateman, my Member of Parliament and all relevant UK Legal and Data Regulatory Bodies." It's been over 40 days and they haven't supplied me with the information I have asked for, so they will get a Data Protection Act Non-Compliance letter on Monday morning by First Class Recorded Post.

Thanks for that! I've definitely paid them in the past 6 years, acknowleged them by agreements to pay the charges and arrears in the past. They are the old style loans from 1992. I've had contact with them and paid them in the past 6 years, so I don't think they are Statute Barred - but I wish they were! It's been over 40 days, so letter of Data Protection Act Non-Compliance going First Class recorded on Monday!

I've been looking carefully at the info SLC have sent me so far: There are lots of acronyms that are not on their Glossary Sheet, it's all out of order, the letter "charges" don't add up to the amount they are asking for, the arrears amount hops about all over the place - presumably when they decided to enlist the services of Smith Lawson to recover some of the money owed. I'm going to have to send a Data Request to Smith Lawson to get a clearer picture. I also need to find out how much I paid Smith Lawson when they turned up at my house prior to 2000. They wouldn't go away, some massive guy who looked like Shrek put his boot in the doorway. I'm going to enjoy causing Smith Lawson as much pain as I possibly can. SLC haven't included any Annual Statements prior to 2000. Does anyone have an address for Smith Lawson?

Try ringing them and if you don't agree with the current balance, send them a Data Protection Act 1998 request and work it all out from that information (see library for letter). After that, if there's a discrepancy take them to court for the difference. They will always avoid Court. They're quite keen to set the Courts on us so I don't see why we should hesitate to do so.

I'll try the Care Home again, I'm going to visit them this time and try and find someone friendly who has access to information. They ask for the NI Number of anyone who is related and has lived in the area for 3 years or more.

You're right about mother being a good local connection, but I can't get her National Insurance number from the Care Home to quote on the application. I looked after my mum since I was 18, then my sister took over 20 years later, then shoved her into the care home without telling me - and she has either Power of Attorney or is a Deputy, I don't know which as nobody will tell me. My sister won't give me my mum's NI mumber, so how can I get that and other details to support my application?

I live in the midlands and I want to move to Manchester so I can visit my Mother more often, she has schizophrenia and is in a specialist OAP home. So, I applied for Social Housing via Southways Housing Trust who handle all applications for housing on behalf of Manchester Council for the areas I was interested in moving to. They sent me a letter telling me that I was in Band 6a and I was able to bid online. But they got my Date of Birth wrong. So I rang and they corrected that after 24 hours. But then I couldn't log in because they hadn't set the "Family Type" field correctly. So I rang Southways again and again till that was finally corrected after 48 hours. I was then able to log into the Manchester Homefinder website and found that I was listed as Band 6b rather than Band 6a as in award letter. I then rang Southways who said that as I didn't have a connection to the area, the official policy would dictate that I would be Band 6b. I asked why I was sent a letter telling me I was on Band 6a and they told me that they didn't know and it was hopeless attempting to win a bid anyway, which isn't true because I checked the winning bids. Furthermore, if I'm bidding against other people and it comes to making a decision between myself and someone else who happens to be Band 6b, then I would probably win the bid. They insist on "Managing my Expectations" by telling me there's very little chance that I will win a bid with every call. They seem bad at what they do and try and put me off applying at every chance. I've asked for a complaint form because this is really shoddy admin work, I've also asked for a letter verifying what Band I am actually on because I think they are too lazy to change the details on the website from 6a to 6b because it will be yet another mistake they would be admitting to. Southways Housing Trust is run by a bunch of lazy, incompetent people who would do well to remember that they are public servants by proxy. I'm actually going to write to Manchester Council Leadership Councillors and the Housing Directorate because quite frankly, this is just bloody awful handling of an application.

They have 3 days to comply fully with my Data Request, I'll hold off sending the non-compliance letter till then.

They refunded my payment of £10 today "As a gesture of goodwill", though I'm not sure if this is a bad thing as far as getting my data is concerned. They also said they tried to ring me 3 times but I wasn't going to talk off the record. They have 3 days to repond in full to my Data Request...

So if I were some unscrupilous individual, I should have changed my name and moved every year for 6 years to avoid their Electoral Roll trace and that, would have been that? Awesome!

I wrote Santander a letter two weeks ago telling them that I would write a letter of complaint to each of their Executive Directors as well as my Member of Parliament and all UK Data Regulatory bodies and they responded today, telling me that they are still processing my request. It's been 36 days since I sent them my Data Request. So I await with eager anticipation...

So if I hadn't paid anything or responded to their letters in the last 6 years, my Student Loans would have been written off? WOW!

Thank you for that! I've found the Data Protection Act 1998 non compliance letter and will be sending these to both my bank and the slc tomorrow morning via recorded delivery. Yes, I'm hoping the letter charges I have already paid will reduce the debt I owe. I hope you don't mind my asking but I'm not familiar with some of the acronyms and terminology used on this site, what do you mean by "SB'ed", and "acked"?

I served both the student loans company and my bank with Data Requests under the Data protection act 1998. Optimistically, I wanted all my data dating from 1992 till now. Santander sent me only 3 years of data, the student loans company sent me data from 2004. I know I paid £250 of letter charges sometime in 1995. They want £1298 now, £290 of which is in new letter charges! They have not complied fully with the data request. How can I get my data so I know what to ask for in court?

I've asked my bank Santander for all data they hold about my account under the Data Protection Act 1998. I wanted all of the transaction data since I opened the account in 1998. They sent me a letter saying "We assume this is about bank charges" and sent me only 3 years of transactions when the letter asked for at least 6 years of data. This has nothing to do with bank charges! It's about a third party I am taking to court. I don't have to give them a reason do I? How can I get the rest of my data? Anyone have any ideas?

Well, my bank has ignored my request at the cashiers desk for all of my statements since 1998, which they told me would be free. Data Protection Act information request letter next to my Bank with £10 enclosed, then the same to the Student Loans Company.

Thank you everyone! I've decided I'm going to start my business anyway. Running the gauntlet!

I'm actually quietly outraged about this alarming obstacle to starting my business. So as a salesman, who holds no physical stock at home, has no clients visiting, trading via a Mailbox address; I'm hoping that once my tax return is filed next year I am not faced with a demand of £4,500 from the IR for using my home as an office even though I am clearly not. I'll try and negotiate for half a living room as an office, after the demand, if that's possible? How amenable are they to negotiaton once they have their sights set? Am I going to have to resort to the courts? Would I get legal aid?

Thanks for all that, I'm not put off and will do this because I have to! I'll be registering the business at the virtual office where business rates would be paid by the virtual office company, so I'm wondering how the IR would actually know to chase me up?

Thank you for your kind reply. A hotdesk is a hired desk which you pay as you use to work, usually on an hourly basis or part of a packaged fixed number of hours monthly deal. I'll be selling webspace to businesses, so there would be no physical stock for storage at any physical location. There would be no visitors to my home whatsoever or deliveries. I would hire meeting rooms for any client meetings if required. I've heard the IR can backdate Business Rates for up to 7 years which has me worried. I won't be making much money so setting aside an estimated amount for use of half a living room as somewhere to keep my laptop on a desk is rather daunting at this point.

It's tough staying put while trying to get someone else evicted. Get proof, audio and/or video if you want to fight your corner and stay.